Tag Archives: health care industry

Medical record tracking comes to Samsung Health

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In an update spotted by 9to5Google, Samsung Health now lets users view their medical records. Samsung is working with b.well Connected Health, a platform designed to provide people with access to their health data, to make these changes happen. They can access previous medical records, including vaccinations, prescriptions and specific medical tests.

Not only does Samsung Health provide information from the past. It can also provide recommendations for next steps and actions, as well as prompt users to seek medical attention.

Since the end of last year, Samsung Health has had a medication tracking feature. Now, Samsung says the feature is coming to South Korea and India, and it is collaborating with healthcare providers in those countries as needed.

One final notable update involves food intake monitoring. Samsung Health now has a barcode scanner to more easily record food products. The company is partnering with fatsecret, a provider of verified food and nutrition data. As a result, you can scan a barcode to get nutritional information instantly. This feature is coming first to the US and some EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. There are plans to expand it to other regions in the future.

Samsung isn’t only working to improve people’s health with the Samsung Health app. The FDA greenlit a sleep detection feature for Galaxy Watch this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/medical-record-tracking-comes-to-samsung-health-170011090.html?src=rss

Zoom’s latest feature update focuses heavily on its AI assistant

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Zoom’s Zoomtopia 2024 feature drop is, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on actively integrating AI even more into its platform, especially for Zoom Workplace and Zoom Business Services. There’s plenty to talk about, but we’ll focus on Zoom AI Companion 2.0 for Zoom Workplace since this appears to be the biggest news the company is announcing today.

AI Companion 2.0 promises to be a persistent presence in a Zoom Workplace window, and it will even remember previous conversations and come up with citations for statements users made. Since it’s connected to the web, it can work with external apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Microsoft Office. Other functions include summarizing documents, email chains and generating content drafts.

AI Companion is an assistant designed to help workers find important points in messages, take notes, create post-call summaries and help compose emails. It can also generate content like speaker biographies, event descriptions and messages.

If you haven’t encountered it before, Zoom Workplace is a paid plan designed for companies that have many remote workers. The plan has functions designed to improve collaboration and communication. Besides organizing meetings, Zoom Workplace lets teams schedule events, write on virtual whiteboards and even send clips of meetings to keep members up to speed. It also has features that compete directly with Google like mail, calendars and docs. In short, it’s Zoom for remote and hybrid teams.

AI Companion 2.0 isn’t ready for release yet, but it should be downloadable next month for free if you’re paying for a Zoom Workplace account. It won’t be available for all regions or industries, but Zoom wasn’t more specific about where exactly you can use it.

If the standard AI Companion feature set isn’t enough, there’s Zoom AI Studio, which lets users tailor the companion to their liking. For example, you can teach the AI your company’s unique vocabulary and jargon. It can also reference company HR resources or documentation to provide answers. The custom AI Companion add-on costs $12 per user each month, and it will be available in the first half of 2025. Some features will be available for preview in the next few months.

While the AI Companion works for online meetings, it can also listen in on in-person meetings. Based on available office data, it can provide meeting summaries and even recommend specific days for employees to go into the office.

Besides the many new AI features, Zoom is branching out but offering industry-specific AI functions. So far, there’s Zoom Workplace for Frontline, Healthcare, Clinicians and Education. Zoom Workplace for Education uses AI for lecture summaries, live-generated notes, personalized feedback and more. Frontline users have access to shift summaries, insights, communications and more. Zoom Workplace for Clinicians and Healthcare will each have specialized features that benefit workers in those sectors.

Those interested in these Zoom updates can tune in to Zoomtopia 2024 today if in the US. Another session on the 10th will also be tailored for Asian-Pacific, Middle Eastern and Japanese time zones.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/zooms-latest-feature-update-focuses-heavily-on-its-ai-assistant-170013512.html?src=rss

Neuralink says the FDA designated its Blindsight implant as a ‘breakthrough device’

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Neuralink says the Food and Drug Administration has designated its experimental Blindsight implant as a "breakthrough device." The company is developing the technology in an attempt to restore blind people's sight.

Manufacturers who apply to the FDA's voluntary breakthrough devices program and receive the designation from the agency are granted "an opportunity to interact with FDA experts through several different program options to efficiently address topics as they arise during the premarket review phase.” The FDA also prioritizes breakthrough devices for review. Ultimately, a breakthrough device designation can accelerate development of a technology. Last year, the FDA gave the designation to 145 medical devices.

Blindsight is separate from Telepathy, its implant that enables patients with spinal cord injuries to control computers using their thoughts, allowing them to play video games and design 3D objects. Neuralink owner and founder Elon Musk said in August that the company had implanted the chip into a second human patient

Musk claimed back in March that Blindsight "is already working in monkeys. Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision." (Federal investigators have reportedly looked into Neuralink's animal testing practices but Musk said in March that "no monkey has died or been seriously injured by a Neuralink device.")

Blindsight "will enable even those who have lost both eyes and their optic nerve to see," Musk said following the FDA's designation. "Provided the visual cortex is intact, it will even enable those who have been blind from birth to see for the first time." He added that while the resolution of Blindsight is low to begin with, "eventually it has the potential [to] be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths."

Those are lofty claims and Neuralink is some way off from being able to fully restore sight to someone who has lost it, if it’s ever actually able to do that. It's not the first company or research team to work on vision-restoring implants either. Meanwhile, as TechCrunch points out, it's unlikely that Blindsight or similar tech can help people who have been blind since birth, given that such people have not "developed the biological capacity for seeing through their eyes."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/neuralink-says-the-fda-designated-its-blindsight-implant-as-a-breakthrough-device-182343456.html?src=rss

Abbott’s OTC glucose monitor is now available in the US

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Health tech company Abbott has been working on a number of biometric wearables for regular consumers. Now, we can get our hands on one. The company just released the Lingo continuous glucose monitor. 

This is an over-the-counter device, so you can just order it without prior approval. However, it’s not intended for diabetics, as it isn't designed for insulin pumps or serious medical alerts. Rather, it’s for curious people who want to keep an eye on their glucose levels. 

Here’s how it works. The biosensor gets stuck to the back of the arm and can stay there for up to 14 days straight. During that time, the device continuously streams glucose data to the affiliated smartphone app. This should, in theory, translate the “body’s reaction to food, exercise and life’s daily stressors.”

The app in action.
Abbott

The app looks particularly robust, providing access to all kinds of related health metrics. There are glucose graphs that update in real time and something called Lingo Count, which displays data related to glucose spikes.

There’s even a place for food and activity logging and the app syncs with Apple Health to automatically track workouts. Once there’s enough information in the system, it’ll provide tailored recommendations and create challenges to encourage healthy habits.

Each Lingo biosensor costs $49, but they only work for two weeks and aren’t reusable. The company is offering combo packs, with two sensors available for $89 and six for $249.

Abbott’s Lingo device isn’t the first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor on the market. A company called Dexcom received FDA approval for a similar sensor earlier this year. The company’s Stelo Glucose Biosensor is also $89 for two units, each working for two weeks. 

It's worth noting that there's little evidence to suggest that this type of glucose monitor is actually useful. Additionally, there isn't much to suggest that there's even a meaningful way to "optimize" blood sugar.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/abbotts-otc-glucose-monitor-is-now-available-in-the-us-170036887.html?src=rss

Congress asks Mark Zuckerberg to explain why drug dealers are advertising on Facebook and Instagram

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Nineteen members of Congress are pushing Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs to be shown on Facebook and Instagram. The letter comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) uncovered hundreds of such ads on the company’s platform.

The letter points to the TTP’s report last month, which used Meta’s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads “selling an array of pharmaceutical and other drugs.” Many of those ads included “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders, or bricks of cocaine,” and directed viewers to outside apps like Telegram. Since then, the TTP has been posting additional examples of such ads on X, including one it found yesterday.

“Meta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines,” the lawmakers write in the letter, which is addressed directly to Zuckerberg. “What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta. Many of these ads contained blatant references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos, and advertiser account names, which were easily found by the researchers and journalists at the Wall Street Journal and Tech Transparency Project using Meta’s Ad Library. However, they appear to have passed undetected or been ignored by Meta’s own internal processes.”

The letter requests details about Meta’s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads, as well as information about how many times the reported ads were viewed and interacted with. It gives Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply. A spokesperson for Meta said the company plans to respond to the letter and directed Engadget to a prior statement, published by The Wall Street Journal, in which the company said it rejects “hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/congress-asks-mark-zuckerberg-to-explain-why-drug-dealers-are-advertising-on-facebook-and-instagram-200541467.html?src=rss

Neuralink successfully implants its chip into a second patient’s brain

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Neuralink's brain chip has been implanted into a second patient as part of early human trials, Elon Musk told podcast host Lex Fridman on Saturday. The company hasn't disclosed when the surgery took place or the name of the recipient, according to Reuters.

Musk said 400 of the electrodes on the second patient's brain are working out of 1,024 implanted. "I don't want to jinx it but it seems to have gone extremely well," he said. "There's a lot of signal, a lot of electrodes. It's working very well." 

The device allows patients with spinal cord injuries to play video games, use the internet and control electronic devices using their thoughts alone. In May, the company announced that it was "accepting applications for the second participant" in trials following FDA approval. 

The original Neuralink implant patient, Nolan Arbaugh, described the surgery as "super easy." In a demo, the company showed how Arbaugh was able to move a cursor around the screen of a laptop, pause an on-screen music device and play chess and Civilization VI.

Arbaugh himself participated in the marathon podcast with Musk and Fridman. He said that the device allows him to make anything happen on a computer screen just by thinking it, helping reduce his reliance on caregivers. 

However, problems cropped up shortly after his surgery when some of electrodes retracted from his brain. The issue was partly rectified later on by modifying the algorithm to make the implants more sensitive. Neuralink told the FDA that in a second procedure, it would place the implant’s threads deeper into the patient’s brain to prevent them from moving as much as they did in Arbaugh’s case.

Neuralink previously tested its implant in animals, including chimps, and some of those testing practices have been the subject of federal investigations. 

Despite those issues, the company said it had over 1,000 volunteers for its second surgical trial. Musk said he expects Neuralink to implant its chips in up to eight more patients by the end of 2024.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/neuralink-successfully-implants-its-chip-into-a-second-patients-brain-123013864.html?src=rss

The world’s first tooth-regrowing drug has been approved for human trials

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I remember being a kid and seeing my grandmother without her dentures for the first time. It was a harrowing experience. Now my dad has dentures so, genetically speaking, I’m several decades out from needing some myself. However, it’s possible that modern medicine will solve the issue of lost teeth by then, thanks to a new drug that's about to enter human trials.

The medicine quite literally regrows teeth and was developed by a team of Japanese researchers, as reported by New Atlas. The research has been led by Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital. The intravenous drug deactivates the uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1) protein that suppresses tooth growth. Blocking USAG-1 from interacting with other proteins triggers bone growth and, voila, you got yourself some brand-new chompers. Pretty cool, right?

Human trials start in September, but the drug has been highly successful when treating ferrets and mice and did its job with no serious side effects. Of course, the usual caveat applies. Humans are not mice or ferrets, though researchers seem confident that it’ll work on homo sapiens. This is due to a 97 percent similarity in how the USAG-1 protein works when comparing humans to other species.

September’s clinical trial will include adults who are missing at least one molar but there’s a secondary trial coming aimed at children aged two to seven. The kids in the second trial will all be missing at least four teeth due to congenital tooth deficiency. Finally, a third trial will focus on older adults who are missing “one to five permanent teeth due to environmental factors.”

Takahashi and his fellow researchers are so optimistic about this drug that they predict the medicine will be available for everyday consumers by 2030. So in six years we can throw our toothbrushes away and eat candy bars all day and all night without a care in the world (don’t actually do that.)

While this is the first drug that can fully regrow missing teeth, the science behind it builds on top of years of related research. Takahashi, after all, has been working on this since 2005. Recent advancements in the field include regenerative tooth fillings to repair diseased teeth and stem cell technology to regrow the dental tissue of children.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-worlds-first-tooth-regrowing-drug-has-been-approved-for-human-trials-174423381.html?src=rss

The world’s first tooth-regrowing drug has been approved for human trials

Posted on by

I remember being a kid and seeing my grandmother without her dentures for the first time. It was a harrowing experience. Now my dad has dentures so, genetically speaking, I’m several decades out from needing some myself. However, it’s possible that modern medicine will solve the issue of lost teeth by then, thanks to a new drug that's about to enter human trials.

The medicine quite literally regrows teeth and was developed by a team of Japanese researchers, as reported by New Atlas. The research has been led by Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital. The intravenous drug deactivates the uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1) protein that suppresses tooth growth. Blocking USAG-1 from interacting with other proteins triggers bone growth and, voila, you got yourself some brand-new chompers. Pretty cool, right?

Human trials start in September, but the drug has been highly successful when treating ferrets and mice and did its job with no serious side effects. Of course, the usual caveat applies. Humans are not mice or ferrets, though researchers seem confident that it’ll work on homo sapiens. This is due to a 97 percent similarity in how the USAG-1 protein works when comparing humans to other species.

September’s clinical trial will include adults who are missing at least one molar but there’s a secondary trial coming aimed at children aged two to seven. The kids in the second trial will all be missing at least four teeth due to congenital tooth deficiency. Finally, a third trial will focus on older adults who are missing “one to five permanent teeth due to environmental factors.”

Takahashi and his fellow researchers are so optimistic about this drug that they predict the medicine will be available for everyday consumers by 2030. So in six years we can throw our toothbrushes away and eat candy bars all day and all night without a care in the world (don’t actually do that.)

While this is the first drug that can fully regrow missing teeth, the science behind it builds on top of years of related research. Takahashi, after all, has been working on this since 2005. Recent advancements in the field include regenerative tooth fillings to repair diseased teeth and stem cell technology to regrow the dental tissue of children.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-worlds-first-tooth-regrowing-drug-has-been-approved-for-human-trials-174423381.html?src=rss

Research indicates that carbon dioxide removal plans will not be enough to meet Paris treaty goals

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New research conducted by the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggests that current carbon removal plans will not be enough to comply with Paris treaty goals to limit global warming to 1.5C, as reported in a study published by Nature. Scientists came to this conclusion by measuring the “emissions gap” between various national climate protection plans and what is actually needed to reach that goal.

This first-of-its-kind study found a gap of up to 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) between current global plans to remove carbon from the atmosphere and what’s needed by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. These impacts include heatwaves, floods, droughts, melting ice and sea level rise.

Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organization UNEP has taken similar measurements of this emissions gap. UEA’s research, which focuses primarily on CO2 removal, indicates that climate policy requires a more ambitious scope if we are to, well, survive as a species.

This means a more nuanced and robust approach that still keeps current carbon removal practices in place, but with a renewed focus on cutting emissions, renewable energy and minimizing deforestation. There are also novel carbon removal options that many nations have been slow to discuss, let alone implement.

These include advanced air filters systems and enhanced rock weathering. The latter is a technique in which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in rocks. These techniques account for the removal of just 0.002 billion tons of C02 per year, compared to 3 billion tons through conventional options. The research indicates that these novel options must become more prevalent in the coming years to help meet that 1.5C threshold.

“The calculation should certainly be refined,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. William Lamb, of the MCC Applied Sustainability Science working group. “This much is clear: without a rapid reduction in emissions towards zero, across all sectors, the 1.5C limit will not be met under any circumstances.”

Co-author Dr. Naomi Vaughan, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA, added that “countries need more awareness, ambition and action on scaling up carbon dioxide removal methods together with deep emissions reductions to achieve the aspirations of the Paris Agreement."

To that end, even if every country sticks to promises regarding carbon removal targets, the amount of carbon removed would likely increase by a maximum of 0.5 billion tons by 2030 and 1.9 billion tons by 2050. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that it would take a removal increase of 5.1 billion tons to avoid the worst effects of climate change. So, yeah, there’s that gap of 3.2 billion tons.

We aren’t doomed, at least not yet anyways. The IPCC suggests an alternative scenario in which the world’s governments work together to reduce global energy demand, hastened by “politically initiated behavior.” In this scenario, carbon removal would increase by 2.5 billion tons by 2050 and alternative methods would help tighten the emissions gap to just 400 million tons. So we basically have to shift our entire society from one of self interest to one of global cooperation. It never hurts to dream and, hey, maybe AI will swoop in and save us. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/research-indicates-that-carbon-dioxide-removal-plans-will-not-be-enough-to-meet-paris-treaty-goals-161113129.html?src=rss

Razer will refund Zephyr mask buyers due to bogus N95 claims

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Razer has to pay over $1.1 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle complaints that it advertised its infamous Zephyr masks as N95-grade when it didn't get them certified at all. The gaming peripheral maker released Zephyr, its high-tech face mask with built-in RGB lighting, during the height of the pandemic. Half a year later, in early 2022, it introduced a "Pro" version that added voice amplification. Razer said back then the Zephyr was as effective as an N95 mask, but it later reneged on its claim and removed all references to "N95-grade" filters from its website and other marketing materials after it came out that the company didn't obtain proper certification. 

According to the FTC, Razer never submitted the Zephyr masks for testing to the FDA or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which gives out the official certification for masks that filter out 95 percent of airborne particles. Razer certainly isn't in the list of companies that manufacture N95 masks approved by NIOSH on its website. In the FTC's complaint, it accused Razer of only stopping its false advertising after consumer outrage. 

The company has to hand over what it earned from selling Zephyr — that's $1,071,254.33 in revenue — to the FTC, which the agency will then use to refund affected consumers. To note, the Zephyr masks cost customers at least $100. It will pay $100,000 in fine over its unsubstantiated health claims, as well. In addition to ordering Razer refund customers, the FTC also prohibited the company from making any claims that it's selling products that reduce the likelihood of being infected with or transmitting the COVID-19 virus without proper FDA approval. Razer has also been prohibited from claiming health benefits for its products without scientific evidence to support them, as well as from "falsely claiming that any product meets government-established standards when it has not."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-will-refund-zephyr-mask-buyers-due-to-bogus-n95-claims-083127094.html?src=rss